


Into the Light

by Smellerbug



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Octo Expansion Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 05:29:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15430014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smellerbug/pseuds/Smellerbug
Summary: After everything they went through helping Agent 8 get to the surface, and after learning so many new things about Marina, Pearl decides to write a new song, deciding it's time to tell Inkopolis about their relationship.





	Into the Light

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fic! I had a lot of fun writing it and wanna write more in the future! I just really love Marina and Pearl and this song makes me emotional so I wanted to write about it. Hope you like it!

The morning sun drifted into the room through a gap in the curtains, reaching Pearl’s face and waking her from her peaceful slumber. Marina’s arms were wrapped snugly around her torso, leaving Pearl unable to move much for fear of rousing her sleeping girlfriend. Not that she minded, she always felt so safe in the octoling’s arms. She managed to adjust herself just enough to be able to turn her head to admire how beautiful Marina looked in that moment, perfectly illuminated by the soft morning light, so serene with a hint of a smile and soft teal blush on her cheeks, her tentacles swaying slightly with her steady breathing. 

She could stare at Marina for hours and hours, but eventually she decided she had to get up. She did her best to free herself from the other girl’s grip on her without disturbing her, but the octoling’s eyes lazilly opened as she muttered, her voice still slow and heavy with sleep. “Pearlieee~” she pouted, “is it time to get up already?” 

Pearl’s eyes met with her partner’s, still only half open, and said to her softly “No no it’s okay Mar, go back to sleep,” placing a small kiss on the younger girl’s lips. Marina let out a dreamy sigh and in just a matter of seconds was back to her dreams. She deserved to rest, after how wild the past few days had been. Saving the world from an ancient phone robot bent on sanitizing the planet with super goo takes a lot out of you. Looking once more at the other girl, Pearl found herself wondering what she was dreaming about. Often, the octoling had trouble sleeping, fighting with echoes of her past buried deep in her subconscious coming back to haunt her in her sleep. Marina never talked about her past much. 

Up until these last few days, Pearl never pried into it, knowing the subject upset her partner. Now, knowing the truth at least, Pearl only loved her and wanted to protect her more than ever. She got out of bed and walked over to the window, passing one more glance over the softly lit angel in their bed. The inkling was overcome with how lucky she was to share her life with Marina. If she could, she’d let out a shout more powerful than any Killer Wail declaring her love for the octoling to all of Inkopolis. An idea came to her suddenly. “I can’t shout it out like I want, but maybe I can sing it…” she thought, a smile creeping across the inkling’s face as she pulled the curtains fully closed and walked out of the room. “I’ve gotta get writing.”

__________

 

The room was dark when Marina woke up at last. She immediately noticed the absence of her precious Pearlie, and hazily remembered the inkling getting up at some point and leaving her with a soft kiss. What time even was it? She scrambled for her phone in the darkness, realizing once she’d found it that it was already well into the early afternoon. How long had she slept? She groggily got out from under the blankets and walked over to the window, drawing the curtains open and filling the room with the bright midday sun. With a yawn, the octoling decided to go look for her girlfriend. 

She found Pearl sitting at their kitchen table. She appeared to be working on something, hunched over some papers completely unaware that Marina had entered the room. Marina saw this as an opportunity to surprise her girlfriend with a smooch sneak attack. She quietly crept closer and closer to the inkling, still seemingly hard at work. Finally, she was in striking distance, and in one swift motion wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and planted a volley of small kisses on her cheeks. 

“HUH WHO’S THERE WHA-” Pearl exclaimed, sitting up suddenly and in the process bashing the back of her head into her girlfriend’s forehead. “Ow shi- OH MY COD MAR I’M SORRY ARE YOU OKAY??” 

Marina held her hand to her aching forehead, wincing slightly, but smiled reassuringly at the smaller girl. “I’m okay, are you? Sorry I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that… Even if it was to smother you in kisses.” 

“I’m fine don’t worry! Sorry I was really focused on these rhymes. To make up for hurting your pretty head I’ve gotta kiss it better to make sure you’re okay!” Pearl darted to her feet and embraced her girlfriend before Marina teased “If you can reach my forehead,” and giggled. Pearl just glared up at the taller girl, with her shit eating grin and her seafoam and pink eyes glittering with mischief and her long waving tentacles and soft lips and she remembered how impossible it was to stay mad at her. The inkling jumped to her tip toes and planted a solid smooch on the other’s forehead, looked back up at Marina, stuck out her tongue and scurried back to her seat at the table.

“I can’t help but to tease you sometimes you’re just so cute when you glare at me like that!” She flashed a teasing but warm smirk at Pearl and walked over to take a seat on her lap. “What was it you were working on so diligently that my poor head had to pay the price?” As she asked, now resting her head on the inkling’s shoulder, she reached out to grab the piece of paper Pearl had been slaving over. Into the Light, was scrawled at the top of the page, under various other crossed out words that Marina couldn’t make out. “A song?”

In an instant Pearl snatched up the paper, “Wait you’re not supposed to read it yet! I want to, um…” She was nervous, her tentacles twitching slightly as she stumbled over herself, “I want to sing it to you first…” she managed to say. The inkling was known for her rapping, it was usually Marina who did the majority of the singing. She could never have a voice as sweet as her girlfriend’s, but this song was special. This song came from somewhere deeper, more vulnerable, than just any of her fresh rhymes. She took Marina’s hand and walked her over to their couch, “Just uh, sit down for a sec while I get this ready.” The older girl opened up her nearby laptop. “I got up early this morning and couldn’t help but to think about how lucky I am to have you in my life, and how I wish everyone knew. I know we haven’t gone public about our relationship, but I think now is the perfect time! There are so many octolings popping up on the surface, scared and lost and confused, looking for a light to help, just like you were when we met.” Pearl had been staring at her feet for the duration of her speech, but slowly looked up at Marina, sitting on the couch with a warm smile and eyes full of love, listening intently to everything Pearl was saying. “Or maybe I was the one who was lost and confused and you were my light…” 

“Aww babe tha-,” Marina chimed, beginning to stand up and go to her girlfriend, before the inkling interrupted her. 

“Wait stay sitting I’m almost done! I just want all of them to see how happy they can be in their new lives, like us.” Marina just gave Pearl a reassuring smile, and the short inkling felt her nerves settle at the sight and said, after taking a deep breath, “Anyway here’s a song I wrote for us or whatever,” looking down and to the side and hitting play on her laptop, and it began emitting a simple and sweet little melody. After a few seconds and another deep breath, Pearl began to sing. 

Marina was transfixed. She loved Pearl’s voice, feeling that their voices complemented each other like everything else about the duo. She’d rarely seen her girlfriend this vulnerable. Normally she’s so headstrong and sure of herself, with only the octoling knowing another side to her. To see Pearl willing to put that side of herself out there for everyone to see and hear, all to show how much she loved her, Marina couldn’t help but fall in love all over again. Pearl was never very confident in her own singing, starting out quiet and unsure, but once she caught Marina’s wide eyes watching her, completely enamored, she went into the next verse with a renewed confidence. She began to rap, because love song or not, it wouldn’t be like her to not have any fresh rhymes. And fresh they were. Every word danced on Marina’s ears and her tentacles swayed to the rhythm. It was different than any of her previous raps, more like she had put the sweet nothings she’d whisper in Marina’s ear into song. 

Pearl sang the final notes of the song as the music faded. She looked in Marina’s direction, not quite looking her in the eyes, and said “So um, yeah. I know it’s not perfect and the music could use some work and of course there will be parts for you to sing and-” She was cut off immediately by her girlfriend, who had darted from the couch to embrace the smaller girl, lifting her into the air with ease. 

“Awww Pearlie I love it and I think it’s a great idea! I love you so much and can’t wait for everyone to know. Maybe we can finally write Blazing Love Meteor!” She squeezed the inkling as hard as she could, kissing her all over her adorable face. 

“I’m glad… you… like it… but I can’t... breathe,” Pearl muttered with what breath she could muster. 

“Oh jeez sorry!” the other responded, lessening her grip on the inkling and setting her down gently, deciding to instead just take her hands and press their foreheads together, looking straight into the other’s golden eyes. “You can be so sweet sometimes, you know that?”

“Psh yeah I know,” Pearl teased, “You’re like the coolest girl ever I’ve gotta make sure you’re treated right. Don’t want you to realize how much better you could have it.”

“Oh shush you, there’s nobody better than my precious Pearlie~” Marina leaned down and placed a kiss on the shorter girl’s soft lips. “Now let’s get writing and finish this song! I loved it so much I wanna make it perfect and we can perform it at our next show! I can’t wait!” 

“Our next show?? But that’s the splatfest! Are you sure?” 

“Of course! When would be a better time to debut our song to inspire hope and love in inklings and octolings alike than for the Squid vs Octopus splatfest! And it’s our anniversary on top of that! It’s gotta be then!” Marina was beaming and wiggling with excitement. Still holding her girlfriend’s hand, she pulled her back over to their table, grabbed her laptop, and the two of them worked through the night to make the song perfect. 

__________

It was the night of the splatfest and almost time for the duo to debut their new song. They were standing backstage, both full of a mix of excitement and nerves. They’d practiced countless times together over the last few days making sure that everything goes right for the performance. “You okay, Pearl?” Marina asked, grabbing her girlfriend’s hand and giving it a squeeze. 

“Yeah yeah sorry, just, I know it was my idea and I stand by it, I just hope it has the effect that I was hoping. I hope they like it…” 

Marina reached up and tilted her partner’s head towards her til her eyes met, and smiled at her warmly, “It’ll be okay babe, just look at me and it’ll all be okay. They’re going to love it and they’re going to be happy for us!” She pulled the inkling’s face up to hers and planted a firm smooch on her lips to instill some courage into the smaller girl. It worked. 

Pearl was dazed by the kiss for a second, love and determination now coursing through her ink. “Let’s do this shit,” she said. Marina nodded, and they walked onto the dark stage hand in hand. The lights came up on the pair, and the crowd cheered. “Hello Inkopolis! We’re gonna be changing things up a bit for this Splatfest. We have a sick new song, a little different than our usual stuff but I wrote it for the freshest Octoling I know,” as she said this, she put her arm around Marina’s waist and kissed her on the cheek. The crowd went wild, and they heard a pair of voices from the crowd (they could have sworn it sounded like Agents 8 and 3) “ABOUT DAMN TIME!” Pearl and Marina looked at each other and laughed, and the inkling continued her intro, “Yeah yeah, we get it. Anyway this song isn’t just for us, but for all the newcomers into Inkopolis too! Welcome to all our octoling pals and I hope that this song inspires all of you to realize we’re all fresh as shell!” 

Marina walked over to her turntables and started the track. Despite the so far positive reception, they were both still nervous, and looked at each other through the entirety of the song. As they sang, the crowd, the stage, everything disappeared, and it was just the two of them. And just like that, the song was over. Slowly the world around them reformed itself and the silence surrounding them grew into an cacophony of applause and cheering. The two looked out into the audience for the first time since starting the song, and saw inklings and octolings all so happy, holding hands, sitting on each other’s shoulders, and they were overjoyed at how well it went. 

“Thanks to everyone for being such a great crowd! Happy splatting to both teams and, as always,” Marina walked over beside her girlfriend at this point and took her hand, both of them saying their catchphrase, “Don’t get cooked, stay Off the Hook!” The crowd cheered and cheered. 

Marina leaned over to Pearl and said, “You know, there’s a song I’d been working on too. It’s called Nasty Majesty, and I think I could use your help finishing it, in a private setting of course so we can properly...brainstorm.” She had a devious grin on her face. 

“Oh, um, yeah? What’s it about?” the inkling asked, although she had a feeling she knew. The octoling leaned closer and whispered in her ear, and as the lights began to dim on the stage, a deep deep blush flushed the shorter girl’s cheeks as a smile spread across her face and her eyes widened. Just before the stage went totally dark, Marina kissed her partner, a kiss full of love and passion and in each other’s lips they could feel a world of new opportunities for them as this new, wide open chapter of their lives together started.


End file.
